Media news during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic often entail complex numerical concepts such as exponential increase or reproduction number. This study investigated whether people have difficulties in understanding such information and whether these difficulties are related to numerical competence, reflective thinking, and risk proneness. One hundred sixty-three participants provided answers to a numeracy scale focusing on complex numerical concepts relevant to COVID-19 (COV Numeracy Scale). They also provided responses to well-established objective and subjective scales, questions about affective states, and questions about the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher scores on the COV Numeracy Scale correlated with higher scores on the Health Numeracy Scale, in the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), and in self-assessments of verbal comprehension, mathematical intelligence, and subjective numeracy. Interestingly, scores on the COV Numeracy Scale also positively correlated with the number of consulted information sources about COVID-19. Accuracy in the CRT emerged as a significant predictor, explaining ca. 14% of variance on the COV Numeracy Scale. The results suggest that people with lower reflective thinking skills and lower subjective and objective numerical competence can be more at disadvantage when confronted with COVID-related numerical information in everyday life. These findings advise caution in the communication of relevant public health information that entails complex numerical concepts.

中文翻译：

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了解 COVID-19 大流行期间的数字信息

冠状病毒期间的媒体新闻2019 年疾病 (COVID-19) 大流行通常需要复杂的数字概念，例如指数增长或繁殖数。本研究调查了人们在理解此类信息方面是否存在困难，以及这些困难是否与数字能力、反思性思维和风险倾向有关。163 名参与者针对与 COVID-19 相关的复杂数字概念（COV 计算量表）的计算量表提供了答案。他们还对完善的客观和主观量表、有关情感状态的问题以及有关 COVID-19 大流行的问题提供了答复。COV 算术量表的较高分数与健康算术量表、认知反射测试 (CRT) 以及口头理解、数学智力、和主观算术。有趣的是，COV 计算量表的分数也与有关 COVID-19 的咨询信息源数量呈正相关。CRT 的准确性成为一个重要的预测因素，解释了大约。COV 计算量表的 14% 方差。结果表明，在日常生活中面对与 COVID 相关的数字信息时，反思性思维能力较低、主客观数值能力较低的人可能更处于劣势。这些发现建议在交流涉及复杂数字概念的相关公共卫生信息时要谨慎。解释约 COV 计算量表的 14% 方差。结果表明，在日常生活中面对与 COVID 相关的数字信息时，反思性思维能力较低、主客观数值能力较低的人可能更处于劣势。这些发现建议在交流涉及复杂数字概念的相关公共卫生信息时要谨慎。解释约 COV 计算量表的 14% 方差。结果表明，在日常生活中面对与 COVID 相关的数字信息时，反思性思维能力较低、主客观数值能力较低的人可能更处于劣势。这些发现建议在交流涉及复杂数字概念的相关公共卫生信息时要谨慎。